


Time's Up

by FaithInUs



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/F, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Nobody is dead forever, Time Loop AU, but I bring in the Super Pal Trio a lot because Im Predictable, catradora, character death but not really but yes really, its mainly about Catra and Adoras relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2019-09-05 19:04:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16816606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaithInUs/pseuds/FaithInUs
Summary: Was it all just a bad dream? Catra wishes it was. But no, this was real; the tears, the deaths, everything. It wouldn't stop. Catra was so sick of it, she just wanted to wake up to a day she hadn't lived so many times before.If only Adora could embrace her, hold her tight, and tell her everything is going to be fine. But of course, she's part of the problem, too.Time loop AU





	1. Day 2

Catra woke up screaming Adora’s name.

Her heart was beating wildly, hands shaking and clenched at her sides so firmly they hurt to uncurl. Claw marks were indented into the skin of her palms, and they stung. She didn’t remember telling herself to touch her face, but she was staring at her hand, covered in the cold sweat and dried tears that couldn’t have come from anywhere else. Anxiety gripped at her chest so tightly it hurt to breathe. The taste of bile rose up her throat, but she swallowed it back down with a vicious gulp.

“What…” she muttered numbly, looking at that palm again. Her hands felt so cold…she had gone to bed fine last night! Had she been dreaming? Catra never dreamed, or at least, had never remembered any. She took a few moments to calm herself, taking deep breaths, opening and closing her fist until the joints in her fingers didn’t hurt as bad. It took a while. Her muscles felt stiff in her body, her eyes were stinging, and she hadn’t felt this shitty since Adora left. Catra swallowed again, trying to even her breathing before even thinking about why she was so shaken up.

A loud snore, one that was most definitely Scorpia’s, interrupted her thoughts. She shook her head and looked down on the floor, unsurprised to see two sleeping bags laid directly next to her, one with Scorpia’s giant figure tucked inside it. Catra couldn’t even bring herself to groan at her antics, she was too in shock.

What was that bad feeling nagging at her heart? Whatever it was, she didn’t like it. Not one bit. It was all too familiar, the feeling of loneliness and shock and all things bad, but…worse, somehow. She felt like she shouldn’t ignore that dream…but damn if she was going to try. Catra slapped herself across the face, focusing her mind on that sting alone, acting like nothing was wrong with her. The whole thing was because of some forgotten dream, it wasn’t even real, Catra! Unless she wanted to run and cry to little miss princess Adora about her problems, she had to toughen up. This was the Horde, dammit, she wasn’t going to show weakness if she wanted to keep her job, or her dignity.

Catra hopped off the mattress and began her morning stretches, taking them more serious than ever with her aching joints. She stretched her back for a solid minute, made it feel like jelly in hopes she could forget the stinging of her palms. She had to start her day, even if it was…3 AM? Catra couldn’t see the hour hand of her clock that well in the dark. The first thing on her mind was to brush the bad taste out of her mouth. She lumbered over to the door, not worrying about waking Scorpia up (not that Scorpia was even capable of being roused from her deep, deep slumber), and was greeted by the sight of Entrapta’s grinning face, two inches from her own, as soon as she opened it.

“Good morning!” Entrapta yelled, giving her a tiny yet heartfelt wave.

“ACK-“ Catra recoiled, not expecting to see her at such an early hour. She could feel her tail bristle in shock, eyes widening and claws coming out on instinct. The Horde’s local nerd princess giggled and jumped down, taking out a notepad and scribbling something on it. Catra wondered what she was writing, but at the same time, didn’t want to know. Catra recovered and felt annoyance take over her entire being. “I’m your commander, you should be saluting me.”

“Oh, really? Sorry.” Entrapta then used her hair to act as a hand above her brow and left it there as she kept talking. “Anyways, Catra-“

“Second-in-Command Catra,” she corrected, voice sounding about as irritated as she felt. She didn’t hate this girl, but today wasn’t the day to be bothering her.

“Second-in-Command Catra, we have a bit of a problem surrounding my latest experiment. Remember Eduwario?” Catra did not, in fact, remember Eduwario. What kind of name is Eduwario?

“…”

“Our rebel spy machine that also functions as a bomb? A really really terrible death bomb?”. Oh, yeah. Eduwario.

“What about it?” Catra had a sinking feeling this wasn’t good news.

“It’s been deactivated, kind of.”

“…it’s _what_?” Catra said in a dangerously low drawl. She did not like where this was going.

“Did you hear what I just told you? Deactivated.” Entrapta either didn’t notice the death glare shot at her or was completely oblivious to what it meant. She kept talking. “The internal regulator combusted, and, per protocol when taking significant damage, all systems went into lockdown, even the signal transductor. This leaves us no information as to its current position in the kingdom of Brightmoon.”

“English, Entrapta. English.”

“The radiator exploded and now we can’t find it,” she said, monotone. Oh. _Oh_.

“So, let me guess, you’re asking me to send troops into enemy territory to retrieve your failed contraption?” Catra’s tail swished in the air so violently it hurt, her claws digging into the grooves of her palm that still hadn’t disappeared from last night. This was supposed to be a foolproof plan, and in its first stage it already managed to blow up in their faces. Great.

“Well, um…I was thinking maybe it should just be us three, the ‘super pal trio’ as Scorpia calls it? It would be a quick in and out, I mean, not worth bringing all our troops, right? And plus, it would be our, um, first mission together, all three of us…” Catra thought about it for a moment, and only a moment. The only thing that had to flash across her mind was being stuck with Entrapta and Scorpia, doting on her, laughing and giggling as they went on a mission and acting like friends. Catra didn’t believe in friends.

“Yeah, not happening. We have enough troops to spare for this.” She wasn’t quite sure if that was true or not, but Catra could call these shots now, she was a commander.

“Oh. Okay.” Entrapta was disappointed, Catra could see it in her eyes. Her hair undid the salute it had held up until that point, and she refused to meet Catra’s gaze. Princesses were so emotional. For a brief second, she tried to give Entrapta the “get over it” glare, but when Entrapta didn’t react, she simply sighed and walked right past her. Catra had a long day ahead of her, especially since she had a stupid retrieval mission to execute. She didn’t have time to be comforting princesses.

For the rest of the morning, Catra worked on coming up with just how they were going to find this M.I.A. robot bomb. Scorpia and Entrapta eventually joined her in the strategy room, sometime way after 3 AM, and once they were told that (with heavy reluctance) all three of them would play an on-the-field role in this mission, began to cause a real ruckus about a “Super Pal Trio Friend Outing”. Catra did all the real work while the dynamic duo planned all the sights they would see on the way, and snacks to pack for the trip. By high noon they went over the finalized plan; Scorpia would lead about 12 tanks across the Fright Zone and into Brightmoon, attacking one of the less important rebel bases stationed relatively close to Eduwario’s last known location. Entrapta would use her metal detector to quickly go in and retrieve their spy robot/bomb. Entrapta pointed out that she would actually need a bit of time, since she had to deactivate it for safe transport. “If I don’t deactivate its failsafe properly, it goes off and I - as well as about everything within 100 feet - kick the bucket” or something like that. Nothing Entrapta wasn’t capable of handling. Catra would operate the Destroyer, one of the Horde’s best tanks, to destroy a few buildings and make it look like a serious assault– with the exception that She-Ra was there, in which Catra would distract her from the battle by leading her into a relatively open field in the middle of the woods. In this situation, Scorpia would man the Destroyer instead. Scorpia and Entrapta agreed to not bring mini food and stop at landmarks along the way as long as all three of them had an official sleepover the next night. Catra agreed, but only because it would be no different than every other night they snuck into her quarters and did it anyways. She still couldn’t stop thinking about that dream, even as Scorpia cheered right in her ear about the Super Pal Trio mission.

After a quick run-over with Hordak, they were off and ready for action. Catra was oddly exhausted, and actively forcing herself to ignore the dreaded feeling that kept eating at her chest. What had happened in that stupid dream to freak her out so much? She didn’t know. She didn’t want to know. They just had to keep pushing forward so Entrapta could bring back her stupid exploding machine and they could focus on real plans, like actual attacks to bring down the Rebellion once and for all.

_Of course_ , She-Ra was there. Not Adora, with her dumb smiling face and trademark red jacket, but She-Ra, with her abnormally tall stature and stupid glowing sword, chatting with her new best friends at the very entrance of their base. Didn’t the three have anything better to do than stand guard, like go recruit other loser princesses to their cause or something? Whatever, Catra thought, just another battle Catra was going to win. As soon as Entrapta was shuffled out the back (with Rogelio as an escort, she couldn’t go alone), they made their way across the horizon, allowing their army to be spotted by the rebel patrols. Catra felt her lips quirk into a smirk as she got ready for her inevitable brawl with She-Ra. Maybe this was the remedy for her restlessness, where she could just let all her anger out on She-Ra. Maybe then, she’d finally forget about her aching palms.

“Go get ‘er boss!” Scorpia shouted, looking at her commander with the upmost amount of faith. Catra resisted the urge to roll her eyes and started climbing up the hatch of the Destroyer, ready to square off with the one she hated the most. She-Ra.

She opened the hatch and crawled out, settling into a comfortable perch atop the tank as they approached the camp. Slowly, she could see the rebels begin to panic. The boy – Bow – pulled out his arrows immediately, while the sparkly princess teleported away, seemingly to warn the others of the attack. She-Ra seemed to have something hard in her eyes as she stormed towards the tanks. Catra could pinpoint the exact moment She-Ra noticed her old bestie’s presence, because the iron grip she had on her sword faltered, her movements got slower, eyes widening in shock for a split second. Then Catra jumped off the tank and let Scorpia pass her by, eyes beckoning the girl inside that golden husk of a hero to follow her as she bounded towards the forest. Without a second thought, She-Ra came chasing after her, like a cat chasing a string. Catra almost scoffed as she began to lead her enemy into her trap; when would Adora ever learn? She should never trust Catra.

Catra had the original plan of dragging She-Ra through a maze, getting her mixed up, and springing her in the open space a little ways from here. But then, after running for only a minute, Catra felt her heart constrict, déjà vu hitting her so hard she actually stopped moving. It was irrational, scary, cryptic, even, but some part of her was screaming to get away from the forest, as fast as possible. Catra tried to ignore it, but she couldn’t. All day it had worn her out, eaten at her insides, stung her palms, taken over her mind. If fighting in the actual battlefield would get rid of this feeling, she’d do it. So she changed course, turning around sharp. She-Ra was charging so fast, so close behind her, they almost collided. Luckily, Catra dodged out of the way, and simply went back the way she came. Once they got back into the relatively open field that this base had been set up in, Catra stopped running. She-Ra, not one to make the same mistake twice, stopped a good few feet away this time.

“Hey Adora,” she purred, still not looking behind her. She could see it well enough in her mind; She-Ra, fueled with anger, anguish, confusion. Her sword held high but not prepared to strike first because Catra was _always_ the one who started their clashes, not her.

“Catra.” The voice sounded so similar, yet so, so different from Adora’s voice. Then again, this wasn’t Adora; this was She-Ra.

“Long time no see. How long has it been, two wee-“ Catra’s introduction was interrupted by a distant explosion from behind She-Ra. Both girls flinched, and Catra’s focus shifted. It had come from…the forest? This entire area was practically deserted besides the random base, not even lost travelers could find their way here. Why would there be an explosion? Did a bomb-

Oh.

Oh no.

“Entrapta!” Catra cried, Adora cast out of her mind as her feet carried her into the forest.

“Wh- Catra! Wait!” She-Ra called, but Catra wasn’t listening. The smell of smoke and burning wood was so strong Catra could track it with ease, winding down the path in an absolute frenzy. She didn’t have a moment to spare here, not if Entrapta-

“What are you doing!? Entrapta!?” Catra didn’t need to look over to know it was She-Ra behind her. Catra would have taken the time to note she was a lot faster right now than she had been earlier, if Catra actually cared about that. Was this why she had such a bad feeling all day? Because somehow, with some godly sense, she had known the death bomb was going to explode? For once, Catra didn’t give She-Ra the time of day to respond, just kept running. The closer she got, the more smoke was smothering her lungs, the smell only getting absolutely acrid with every step she took. She just had to follow that scent to the explosion, it was practically see-able by how pungent it was. Entrapta...

It was in the clearing she had planned on bringing Adora for their brawl. The bomb had a relatively small impact circle, but it really did destroy. There was a deep black hole right in the ground, charred dirt and burnt grass surrounding it. Some of the shrubbery was on fire, a few trees too – one particularly looked very unsteady, as if it had a very short amount of time to go before crashing down. At the base of that tree, there was a body, covered in ash. Catra could see purple hair…

She just…stared. She couldn’t bring herself to do anything else. Was that…Entrapta? Was she alive? Was she _dead_? Catra couldn’t tell, she couldn’t see, she couldn’t hear, it was just too much. Too much…!

“Catra, is that…” She froze, looking back and remembering She-Ra had been following her. But it wasn’t She-Ra anymore; there, standing behind her, was Adora, hair a mess, eyes full of shock and fear, nose scrunched at the absolutely terrible smell. Adora started stepping forward, slowly approaching the body. Catra stared and watched, unable to do anything. Suddenly she could hear again. The sounds of flames roaring in her ears, the deafening shrieks of the battle some ways away, but most importantly, the god awful creaking of that tree. The tree Adora was directly under, that right that very second, began to fall.

It all happened in an instant. Catra had been standing there, and then she hadn’t. A name was shouted out of Catra’s mouth, and Adora looked up, the reality not quite setting in as the giant log, set aflame, fell closer and closer to her. Catra wasn’t thinking. She _couldn’t_ think – she tackled Adora to the ground, and caught the tree with her palms.

  
It _hurt_. Immediately, she could feel the flames licking her palms, churning against her hand, burning and burning and burning. The tree was way to heavy to be holdable by a human being, she could feel the pressure crushing every inch of her body. She didn’t know how she wasn’t squashed yet. She would be, though. Soon. Then, she noticed Adora - sweet Adora, holding it with her. This tree was giant; there was no surviving this, this is how they would die. They had probably two seconds, and it would be over.

Catra saw her whole life flash before her eyes in the cruelest of ways; she remembered all the times she stole an extra ration from the Horde lunch room, and all the times Shadow Weaver had hurt her. She remembered that stupid sleepover that would never come to light, and all those times she told Kyle off for wearing her belts, and _Adora_. _So much Adora_. How they laughed at dumb jokes, and cried in each other’s arms, and loved but never said they even liked. Catra cared about Adora, she really did, and now will never be able to tell her because they’re about to get crushed by a tree, and her palms are killing her, and her eyes are closing, Adora’s saying something but she just can’t hear. She wanted to – no, had to say something back. Anything. Anything!

Catra woke up, screaming Adora’s name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I hope you liked the first chapter :D Apologies if the writing is a little eh, I haven't attempted to write a real coherent story in ages and I'm rusty as hell. Stay tuned for Chapter 2! Thank you so much for reading, and have an awesome day :)


	2. What Has Been Done

Catra’s entire body couldn’t stop shaking. Her breaths were short and deep, hands instinctively covering her mouth in horror as she tried to muffle the gasps and sobs that erupted from her throat. Fresh, burning tears were gushing out of her wide eyes, feeling like acid against her cheeks. Adora had just _died_. She just watched Adora, and herself, and Entrapta and probably Rogelio _die horribly in an explosion_! She wrapped her arms and tail around her body instinctively, sharply inhaling in through her nose and intensely exhaling out her mouth in an effort to calm herself down. She violently blinked the tears out of her eyes, hissing at nothing as she tried to compose herself.

She repeated this aggressive breathing process until she felt good enough to look at her surroundings. Before her were blank, unsettling walls, with the quiet hum of machinery working coming from somewhere inside them. The faint taste of oil, gas, and sweaty recruits that came with breathing the air of the Fright Zone rested at the tip of her tongue, and she could faintly see the torn-up mattress under her and one single night stand to her right, with nothing but a framed sketch of Scorpia, Entrapta, and Catra drawn by Scorpia herself to decorate it. This…was her room. Her commander’s quarters. What was she doing in her commander’s quarters? Didn’t she just lose her life?

Everything was still. She looked around the room suspiciously, trying to find…something. Signs that she was dead, maybe? Her eyes scoured for anything even remotely different to hint that she was in the afterlife. The more she looked, the more she noticed there was absolutely nothing out of place. The bed squeaked when she shifted her weight. The wall had a small puncture wound from a tac where a picture had hung before Catra took it down. The alarm clock read 2:56 AM. Nothing was out of the ordinary. What was going on? Catra couldn’t wrap her head around any of this, a whole new emotion eating at her chest that could only be described as “I just died, and my personalized hell is just my normal, everyday life with literally no alterations”.

Her hands were aching. Not uncomfortable, or similar to the stinging of yesterday. They just felt _weird_ , lightly burned, like the memory of pain haunted them but nothing actually hurt. Her fingers brushed against her cheeks, feeling the cold sweat lacing her skin just like the last time she had woken up like this. The whole dying thing had to have been some weird dream. It had to have, there was no other explanation.

A loud snore echoed throughout the room. Catra’s body tensed up, claws unsheathed on impulse and eyes trained straight ahead of her, not daring to move a muscle. She focused all her energy onto hearing, ignoring the sound of her pounding heart as she listened to breathing coming from somewhere to the left of her. There was someone else in the room. Slowly, she turned her head, gaze meeting the two sleeping bags on the floor. She let out a sigh as she realized it was only Scorpia, curled up in the sleeping bag that only covered her legs, using her pincers as a pillow. That’s normal, she supposed, letting out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. Scorpia and Entrapta always do that, they always sleep over in these quarters with her. It’s normal. It happens every day. But, wasn’t Entrapta…? No, she was alive. That happened in a dream, Catra kept telling herself. She was going crazy, she had some freak dream, she was fine, super cool, mega awesome, absolutely splendidly-

Catra slapped herself. She had to get it together. Adora hadn’t died. She dreamed it. She dreamed all of it. It was her mind’s way of reminding her that Adora was dead to her…yeah, totally, that made sense. Catra took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders, hopping off the bed and beginning her morning stretches. Breathe. Breeeeeaaaatttheeeeee.

Her mouth felt oddly dry this morning, she probably needed some water. Catra would go brush the morning plaque off her teeth and then go get something to drink. Everything was totally normal. She wasn’t dead, nobody was, and life was going on as normal. The bomb probably didn’t even exist! Scorpia would never believe her story, Catra thought as she reached down to touch her toes. Catra wouldn’t actually say anything to the hyperactive force captain about this, but she let herself imagine staring at the tall woman’s furrowed brows and disbelieving eyes as she asked if Catra had brain damage. It brought an odd sense of comfort to her, one she didn’t quite understand.

Catra paused for a moment after she had finished, just listening. After a few seconds, she started questioning why she was even doing that, shaking her head and walking swiftly to the door. Her hand rested gently against the nob, hesitating only a second before turning it open.

“Good morning!”

“AAAAAAAHHH!” Catra didn’t even notice she slammed the door shut until the walls were already shaking from the bang, her body at least 4 feet from where she had been before. Catra started hyperventilating, hand clenching the fabric over her chest like she was having a heart attack. If she had a choice in the matter, she would _really not_ prefer to hold a conversation with the walking corpse of Entrapta right now – not that she was actually dead, of course. Entrapta hadn’t died. She hadn’t. That was a dream. The fact she was even here, greeting Catra the exact same way she had been before, was just a coincidence.

“Um, Catra…?” A voice from the other side of the door piped. “Entrapta speaking, may I please come in?” After a few seconds of intense mental debate, Catra huffed, loud enough that Entrapta could hear it. She wasn’t sure what message she just sent to Entrapta – honestly, she wasn’t sure what she even meant by such an open-ended response - but the girl came in anyways. “Sorry to startle you, Catra, I know it is a little early in the mor-…” She trailed off, staring at Catra weirdly, with an uncomfortable amount of confusion and concern. Catra felt an intense embarrassment, fighting the urge to glance down at herself and see if there was a stain on her shirt or something.

“What?” She snarled, making sure her voice didn’t crack, acting annoyed and knowing Entrapta would fall for it. She always did – _everyone_ always did, because if there’s one thing Catra could do, it was lie. Catra had nothing to feel self-conscious about, it was just Entrapta being weird. As soon as she told her what was off, Catra would just make her feel bad about asking! Yeah! Fool proof!

“Your eyes are leaking.” Oh.

“No they’re not,” Catra shot back, locking her gaze with Entrapta and delivering the most intimidating glare she could muster, very subtly wiping her hand over her face and removing any trace of tears.

“Oh, okay.” _Nailed it_.

“Anyways, I want to talk to you about something. It’s about Eduwario.”

“Eduwario…” Catra echoed. Where had she heard that name before…?

She knew. She knew where she heard that name before. But, it was a common name, right? There were a ton of Eduwarios in the world, totally! Plus, Entrapta definitely mentioned its name the other day, of course she remembered it. It wasn’t just because of the dream. It was something that already happened. The dream played absolutely no part of this. That stupid dream, for all that is holy in Etheria she _had to stop thinking about the dream…!_

“Yeah, Eduwario. Our rebel spy machine that also last resort functions as a really really terrible death bomb. Anyways, um, about Eduwario…to put it simply, it’s deactivated – kind of.”

Entrapta’s words sounded so distant all of a sudden. Catra stared blankly past Entrapta, so acutely aware of the phantom burns on her hands they were beginning to feel real. It couldn’t be deactivated. It’s impossible! Had she really heard the word “deactivation” spoken by Entrapta, the dead girl? The one that was rambling on right this very second, spewing irrelevant facts she shouldn’t have already known? What was going on? Was this some sick prank?

Why was this her life?

“Catra?” Entrapta was speaking still, right.

“Deactivated,” Catra mumbled, not angry, not surprised, but some emotion between “I knew that” and “I really wish I didn’t already know that”.

“Yes, deactivated. Like I just said, the internal regulator combusted, and, per protocol when taking significant damage, all systems went into lockdown, even the signal transductor. This leaves us no information as to its current position in Etheria. Its last recorded location was the Whispering Woods, but that was days ago, so we can’t be sure.” Entrapta explained.

“I’ll… send someone to go get it then,” Catra replied after a few seconds of awkward silence. No matter if this was a prank, or a dream, or some weird time warp, Catra didn’t _know_ , she wasn’t going to execute the same failed plan twice. In no way was she going to get blown up by Eduwario again, or deal with her biggest problem _Adora_ , who she refused to even think about right now because that girl always made her life a billion times more complicated than it already was. Catra let out a groan, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

“It’s not that simple, though. You see, it has this failsafe component to it, makes the whole process of transport incredibly difficult. It would be a lot more efficient if, um, three smart, close best friends-“

“Here’s the plan!” Catra cut her off, not wanting to hear any more words pour out her mouth. “I’ll just go get it myself. You will teach me how to transport it safely, and we will all just forget about this whole terrible mission.” She dug her claws into the skin of her palms, creating grooves that she felt should have already been there.

“That won’t work.” Entrapta countered. “I’m a necessary part of the whole deactivation process. Eduwario is really state of the art, with even one brush of skin or scales – any kind of anything that’s not specifically me – and Eduwario self-destructs. Everything in its general vicinity would be blown to smithereens, and even if it wasn’t already a suicide mission, we also have no clue where it is. Searching blindly would be a huge waste of time.” Catra rolled her eyes – that wasn’t actually a problem for her, she knew where it was.

“I’ll just go, scout it out, then come back.” Entrapta had some look on her face, obviously in disagreement at the sheer stupidity of the plan, but Catra had made her decision.

“I’m going to get ready, you and Scorpia will stay here and do something useful.” The other girl looked like she wanted to say something, but Catra brushed past her before she could get another word in. Catra had preparations to take care of, Entrapta could take care of herself.

There’s one thing Catra hadn’t planned for and, frankly, hadn’t even thought about until it was already too late; she had no clue how to get to the clearing from the Fright Zone. As dumb a thought as it was looking back, she had assumed some conveniently mysterious pull would bring her to the exact location of the bomb. Of course, per Catra’s entire existence, thing’s didn’t work out like that, and she was completely lost with no clue which way she came from or where she was going. Entrapta had been right, this was probably the dumbest plan Catra had ever made as a commander thus far. It was a little too late to take the order back now, as she was in the middle of the Whispering Woods, all alone, with not even a metal detector on hand because Catra had _intended_ to prove Entrapta wrong.

There was no reason to freak out. Catra knew she’d find a way out eventually probably. Maybe she’d be lost all night and go through a new day and prove she wasn’t going crazy. Right now, though, she was walking in any direction her gut told her to, because at the end of the day, her wild and acute instincts were all she needed to survive.

After walking past the same weirdly shaped rock enough times to recognize it was the same weirdly shaped rock, Catra gave up on instincts and just started walking in a straight line. As she looked around at the infinite woods, she realized just how bored and aggravated she was at the same time. She had been able to occupy herself by getting lost in the whole “I’m living a complete déjà vu second day” thing for probably the first hour or two, but after her train of thought looped for the 47th time about how messed up her situation is, she couldn’t bear listening to her own head anymore. Currently, she was counting the number of times she stepped on an uncomfortable pebble or saw a really odd looking bug. Once she got to some number in the higher end of 300, she realized how much of a waste of time this was turning out to be.

“This is _so_ not fun,” Catra complained to herself, kicking the 378th most uncomfortable pebble into oblivion, watching it sail past sticks and get swallowed by the brushes beyond.

Then, she _finally_ saw it. After some ungodly amount of time, and an ungodly amount of luck, she could see a clearing in the trees. If there hadn’t been a death bomb awaiting her there, she probably would have run to it, overjoyed that her trek was over and she finally had something to occupy her time. Even with the horrifying knowledge that the bomb she was looking for had an imaginary death count of four, she still heard a sigh of relief escape her lips. She took a few steps towards the grotto, seconds away from breaking out of the forest, when she heard something. Something that made her go on full alert, movements freeze, ears perk up, claws unsheathe.

There were voices coming from the clearing.

“…here all day and there’s no signs of the Horde. It’s important you don’t stress yourself out over all… _this._ ” Catra heard a boy’s voice say, sounding disgustingly sympathetic and full of, _ugh_ , compassion. Definitely some Brightmoon soldier. In the back of her mind, she thought the voice sounded eerily familiar, but she cast the thought aside in favor of getting a better view of these people. Slowly, silently, she shuffled sideways towards the nearest tree. She rested her hand on the trunk and paused for a moment, only a moment, before casting aside any weird feelings she had towards trees now and beginning to climb.

“Exactly. We’ll head back to camp and take it with us, how about that? Then nobody can get hurt, and the Horde won’t get their weird machine back.” Catra had a sinking feeling in her stomach that she knew who these people were; she could practically hear the sparkles and everything shimmering pouring out of the girl’s mouth as she spoke. She caught herself praying in the back of her mind, that some miracle would happen for the first time ever and it was just two completely regular Brightmoon buffoons on a convenient stroll through the woods that happened to sound exactly like She-Ra’s two best friends. That they would be sitting, just the two of them, with no shining blonde lady beside them, most certainly not stupid, nerdy, annoying, super dumb-

“No. We have to stay here; the camp can handle themselves. We’ll wait as long as it takes for the Horde to show up, then we’ll finally get some answers.” -Adora. Oh, _come on_! Catra mentally groaned. _Of course_ Catra couldn’t catch a break today.

Finally, she reached a branch on the tree that looked sturdy enough to hold her weight without much of a fight. Trying to be angry and stealthy at the same time made everything about climbing infinitely more difficult, but she was able to pull it off, moving silently as she crawled along the branch.

“Okay Adora. If that’s your decision, we’re behind you. But, when we go home after today, you are _obligated_ to take a day off. No ifs ands or buts.” The boy said slyly, and Catra could tell he was smiling just by the tone of his voice. Catra had just climbed across the entire branch and finally found a spot where she could watch them and stay hidden by the leaves all at once. Honestly, though, she probably wouldn’t have had to see them to take a guess at what they were doing; sitting in some weird circle around the bomb like a campfire, chatting away with absolutely no awareness to their surroundings. Adora’s back was facing Catra, but her Adora-senses could tell she was in some sour mood just by the way she held herself. Happy Adora’s shoulders never sagged, her posture was never anything less than perfect. Her new best friends probably couldn’t tell, though, they knew nothing about Adora. Not like Catra knew her.

“Yeah! No getting out of it!” Glimmer joked, tugging Adora into a noogie. The blonde didn’t react much, Catra could practically see the humorless chuckle and pity smile she was flashing them.

“Yeah... Yeah, um, that’ll be fun.” Adora finally spoke up, albeit very quietly. Catra felt a pang in her heart, and a wave of something wash over her. Pity? Joy? She didn’t know how to feel about it, but seeing Adora so not-Adora like this made her feel…weird. Nothing about Adora ever evoked just one solid identifiable emotion within Catra, it was starting to get annoying.

“Anyways, what does this thing even do? We know it’s Horde stuff, but…are you sure it’s a bomb?” Glimmer spoke up, looking at Eduwario with acute interest.

“Oh, it’s definitely a bomb,” Adora said, an edge of nervousness to her voice. “That’s how they make them in the Horde.” Catra hated to admit it, but Adora had a point; they made all their bombs eerily similar to one another. How did they think this spy thing was going to blend in? It’s the very definition of a bomb, a relatively large, spherical hunk of metal that was probably labelled “spy that also functions as a bomb” somewhere, if Entrapta had any artistic leeway with the design. Catra would definitely have to bring that point up next time they hatched some diabolical plan that involved bombs.

“It’s really well made, actually,” Bow pointed out. “I’ve seen some tutorials that make them like this. See how the shell is just thin enough to be protective, but to have mobility? If you tap it like this…” Catra felt her heart stop beating as Bow went to tap the shell. A relatively harmless intent, of course, but Entrapta’s words echoed through her mind; “, just one touch by a foreign entity – or, everything that’s not specifically me - and the bomb goes off…”.

“DON’T TOUCH THAT!!!” Catra shouted, only registering the mistake she made in the seconds after she said it. She covered her mouth, like that was going to do anything, her mind desperately trying to come up with what she was going to do now.

In an instant, Adora was off the ground, sword pulled out and her trademark perfect stance achieved instantly. Bow retracted his hand and reached for his bow as Glimmer stood up, grabbing at the staff she had placed to the side of her. Catra had half a mind to run away and never look back, but the other half was on such an autopilot she had already hopped off the branch, landing on her feet and locking her gaze with Adora’s. Those gray eyes used to mean the world to her, they used to look at her with such an adoration. She remembered how they had once lit up whenever Catra made a funny joke, or looked back at her in the middle of the night when Catra couldn’t sleep. She hated the fact those same eyes were staring back at her from the other side, knowing that Catra meant nothing to her anymore.

“Hey Adora,” She sneered, tossing aside all those extra, bitter emotions and focusing solely on the anger she felt towards the girl and her friends. “Miss me?”

Adora opened her mouth, as if she was going to say something, but her voice cracked halfway through her first syllable. Bow and Glimmer dropped their defenses, looking over at her with mild shock. Catra grinned and took this opportunity to run in head first, shoving Adora with a force in Bow’s direction. In the few stumbles she took from the blow, she bumped into Bow, who tumbled to the ground. Glimmer was on her in a flash, wrapping her arms around Catra and trying to tug her to the ground. Catra yelped and, with a crazy spin, flung her off. She wasn’t dumb, there’s no way she could win at a two on one here. She had to get rid of sparkles somehow, and she knew just the way.

“It’ll be such a shame when our soldiers bomb your camp!” Catra shouted, grinning from ear to ear at her blatant lie.

“Glimmer! Go to the camp and warn the others!” Adora yelled. Glimmer nodded, and without a second word was gone in a poof of pink light. Glimmer must have really trusted Adora to just listen like that, there wasn’t even hesitation in her actions.

Wow, oh so touching. Catra might cry.

As Catra bared her claws as Adora raised her sword and attempted to turn into She Ra. Like the total idiot Adora was, she forgot that Bow was right beside her, currently struggling to stand back up. In the swing upward, she hit him with the blunt end of the blade and knocked him out cold. Adora looked down, stunned, and Catra couldn’t help but start laughing at the weird turn of events.

“Ha! Aren’t you and your new best friends supposed to be in sync or something? You totally just knocked both of them out of the battle. What kind of leader are you?” Catra taunted, with full intent on pushing Adora’s buttons. Naturally, it worked. With a grunt, Adora completely forgot about turning into She Ra and raced towards Catra, sword in hand, ready to begin their dance. Catra cracked a smile; finally, some real action. With a quirk of her lip, a lash of her tail, she-

“Waiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttt!!” A voice shouted, barreling through the bushes from right behind Adora.

“Scorpia?!” Catra yelled, instantly regretting the blatant shock in her tone. Adora looked over at Scorpia, just as confused as Catra was.

“Catra! You gotta be careful, there’s a bomb here!!” Scorpia started panting wildly, pincers on her knees as she regained her breath. Had she run here all by herself?

“What the hell Scorpia? I knew there was a bomb here, it’s kinda obvious!” She shouted back, arm gesturing to the bomb that – oh wow, that thing was a lot closer to her feet than she thought. “I’m fighting the enemy right now, go away! Didn’t I tell you to stay at the base? How did you even know I was here?”

“Well, actually, you said to do something useful,” Scorpia replied, a smile on her face, purposefully not answering the last question. “By the way, your tail is like inches from the bomb, you should probably move that before you touch it.” Catra yelped, looking behind herself to see her tail was, in fact, dangerously close to brushing against the bomb. She grabbed it with both hands and jumped back, heart beating wildly out of her chest as if the fear of Hordak had been struck into her.

“Why can’t you touch it?” Adora asked. Catra immediately noticed her grip on the sword was weaker, her stance dropped and a casual look on her face. That was not Adora’s battle stance, that was her “we didn’t actually call it off but I’m done with this” stance. She thought the battle was over, didn’t she! Catra groaned a long, deep groan. Scorpia had completely ruined their mojo!

“We’re not just going to _tell_ y-“

“It’s because the bomb is like, touch sensitive or something, it’ll go off and that wouldn’t be good, you know?” Scorpia explained. Catra facepalmed. Adora’s face paled, looking down at the bomb just sitting there, more similar to a random rock than a contraption of death. With a few shuffles further away from it, she actually had the audacity to put her sword _away_ , letting it sit on her back like the battle was over. She cast a fretful look at Catra, then at the bomb, then back at Catra.

“I don’t want to fight you, Catra,” She admitted, that stupid weakness in her eyes that made Catra so unexplainably angry. “Please, let’s just call it off for today. You retreat your troops, we’ll take care of the bomb together, and fight another day. No harm done.” Adora smiled, not realizing the theoretical bomb she just set off in Catra. The girl was absolutely seething in her skin; did Adora just seriously try and _order_ her to do something? After everything Adora has done to her, all they’ve been through, Adora thinks she can just order Catra around like one of her Brightmoon besties with “no harm done”!? Catra was her own _person_ , Adora had no right...Who did she think she is? This battle hasn’t ended, not yet, not that easily. Not with a lift of Adora’s finger, because she didn’t _have_ a say in this. Catra snarled, unsheathed her claws and, with a hiss, launched herself at Adora’s face.

Adora squeaked in surprise as she felt Catra barrel into her, claws out and in a blind fury. They tumbled to the ground, Catra hissing and growling as Adora tried her best to block her attacks. They tussled in the dirt, Catra pulling at her hair, spitting in her face, tearing up her clothes. It had only been a matter of time until she was able to get an opening, and as soon as Adora moved just a little too slow, she sank her claws into her shoulders. Catra felt even more anger burn at her insides at Adora’s shocked expression, her grip tightening even more as she felt her claws easily slide through her skin.

“You seriously think you can tell me what to do? Really!?” Catra growled, about to say more only to have the wind knocked out of her chest. She fell backwards, confused, noticing that Adora had managed to kick her off. She looked deeply hurt, and not because of the bleeding little holes on her shoulders where Catra’s claws had punctured. She stood up, breathing heavy, but refused to draw her sword. Catra growled, bawling her hands into fists and trying to punch Adora. The girl blocked her, refusing to strike back.

“You mean nothing to me anymore, Adora!” Catra yelled, tears in her eyes as she threw more and more punches at her. “You’re such a waste of space! All you do is annoy me! I hate you!! I hate you _I hate you I **hate yo**_ **u**!!!” Suddenly, she felt her hands collide with something soft; Adora’s face. The other girl stumbled back, looking down and refusing to meet Catra’s hard gaze. When she finally looked back up, Catra felt all the burning anger immediately freeze inside her. Adora’s eyes, those bright grey eyes, filled with…the upmost amount of defeat she had ever seen before in her life. There was no hurt in her eyes, not like Catra would expect; she looked like she wanted to curl up into a ball and die. She held no light in her gaze, nothing even remotely hopeful – it was like someone had sucked all the optimism from her and replaced it with regret. Deep, never-ending regret, the kind that really hit home in Catra’s heart. She knew that look all too well; it was one she had seen in the mirror so many times, the pain she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy. One she had hoped Adora would never even come close to understanding.

Suddenly Catra didn’t feel so angry. She stumbled back, feeling like she was the worst creature in existence. She looked down at her hands…they felt like they were burning. She did that, she just did that to a human being – no, to _Adora_ , whose shoulders were bleeding, with messed up hair Adora wasn’t supposed to have, dirty clothes all disoriented and scratched up, but her eyes, Catra couldn’t look away from her eyes. This wasn’t right. What had she done? Why does Catra always mess this stuff up?

“Adora!!” Catra numbly diverted her attention to the noise, only to be doused back into reality when she saw Bow – she had _totally_ forgotten about Bow – weakly reach for the bomb, maybe hoping to throw it at Catra’s head or something. Scorpia ran forward, pincers out as if she was going to stop him. Catra felt regret seize her entire being; not fear, not like last time, because she was about to die by this stupid bomb again and now she had a reason to live and apologize. She watched him reach, never breaking eye contact with his hands as it unfolded. He was close, his hand was reaching, Catra was numb, her hands were burning, his fingers were right there, then she heard footsteps, footsteps running behind her, and then a faint brush of fingers against her back like the light brush of Bow’s fingers against the grey metal of that godforsaken bomb. One second, a searing pain, her entire body overloaded with a torture she had never dreamed a human being could feel. Every part of her body was being split apart, and she felt everything, then she felt nothing.

Catra’s eyes snapped open, awakened by her own bloodcurdling scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, hope you liked this chapter! We're still in the setup portion of the story, so apologies if this chapter was a little boring, but my goal is to get the plot really juicy really soon. Stay tuned! 
> 
> To give you a time frame, my goal for updates is every weekend, although I can't guarantee anything since I'm terrible with scheduling lol. Thank you so much for reading, have an awesome day!


	3. Hindsight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I plan to update every weekend" yeah um, didn't happen, it's been seven months lol. Anyways hi, Season 3 threw me back into Catradora HARD - hard enough to not only give me the desire and motivation to write the third chapter of an old fic, but to actually get said chapter to 6,000 words? Friends to Rivals to Mortal Enemies to Weary friends to Lovers is TOO powerful ugh.
> 
> Now that there's more seasons for the show, I would like to clarify some things. I began writing this fanfiction after the end of season 1. Because so many things that are going on just wouldn't happen now, it's important the reader knows this takes place before the events of season 3. The Battle of Brightmoon happened, but the woods is alive and well, so if you want a canonical place to put this, it'll probably have to fall somewhere in early season 2? Everyone is going to act a little more like their earlier selves because not only did I not have as firm of a grasp on their characters as I do now, but a lot of key moments that define who they are...don't...really...happen? For example, Entrapta and Hordak aren't working together, Scorpia's character isn't as fleshed out because she didn't have much screen time, Super Pal Trio interacts SO MUCH more wholesomely, Catra has no Shadow Weaver issues at all and the bitch basically won't be in this fic, etc. It shouldn't be too much of a problem, although having to dial down Scorpia's wonderful personality is heartbreaking for all of us :,(  
> Anyways, I hope you like the new chapter! :D Sorry for the wait, see you at the End of Chapter Notes!

Not this again. It was getting old; looking around with wide, confused eyes, thinking about how she shouldn’t be back at the hellhole dubbed Fright Zone, looking down at her hands like they shouldn’t have been there. Like she shouldn’t be breathing. To trace her nails over the trails of tears and cold sweat that coated her skin. She glanced down, not moving her body an inch as she saw the faint light from outside bounce off the gleaming claws of Scorpia, curled up in that stupid purple-grey sleeping bag as always. She squinted, and squinted hard, until she could make out the clock’s hands laid at 2:53 AM. This was becoming some sort of sick ritual; a shocking yet expected set of events that Catra was beginning to loathe. In one swift, angry motion, she swung her legs over the bed and hopped off, flinching at the weird feeling that traveled up her legs the second her feet hit ground. It was that tingly feeling she had in her hands, except all over her body, making her shake and itch and shiver. To put it simply, this feeling was nothing pleasant. Was she going to have to deal with this all day? Every step she took, a reminder of what she did to Adora?

Oh, how she didn’t want to think about Adora right now. How, as she mindlessly stretched her body, Adora’s back wasn’t entirely straight, her breathing ragged and lips slack against her face. Her broken smile, the tremble in her voice. Most of all, Catra did NOT want to remember those eyes, those grey eyes cracked like a broken mirror, that sometimes were blue now but were grey, they were definitely grey when Catra looked into them, because god forbid if she could just _erase_ those eyes from her memory and make her heart stop shriveling up inside her chest.

Well, Catra never really got what she wanted, anyways.

She couldn’t even bring herself to sigh as she flopped back on the bed, hearing a chorus of drawn out squeaks and complaints from the mattress springs. This is the moment where she’s supposed to go and open the door, but she didn’t want to. She really, really didn’t. Thoughts fired in and out of her head, moving too quick to understand but feeling them long enough to be throwing herself into a deep pool of sadness and self-hatred. She…she wanted to take it back. She wanted to go back in time and stop herself, pull the punches she had thrown so carelessly, sew her mouth shut before she could let those lies slip out of her tongue so easily in the heat of the moment. Catra vaguely registered a snore coming from Scorpia’s corner of the room - for all that was good and pure in Etheria, was her annoying, floor rattling nose malfunction _really_ going to be a constant in this time loop? - when it hit her like a tree to the face.

She already went back in time.

She was in a time loop _right now_! This was probably the only situation where she _could_ take those actions back! She felt a warm feeling spread from her heart through her body, and a weight lift from her shoulders. For the first time in…in some disgusting amount of time, possibly her entire life, she was _released_ from a burden. She tried to let herself drown in that feeling, but nonetheless, an ugly question forced itself into her brain, breaking the short lived peace; What if she didn’t forget? What if Catra’s not alone in this, and people have just been tricking her into thinking she is? If Adora remembers, then…

With heavy reluctance, she forced herself to sit up, ungracefully letting her feet drop to the ground. She took her time walking over to the door, placing her hand on the handle, but then pausing. She glanced back at Entrapta’s empty sleeping bag, and in a moment of curiosity, leaned her head down to look under the gap in the door. For no particular reason, she had expected Entrapta to just be standing there, maybe waiting for Catra to open it with that annoying grin on her face. Now that Catra thought about it, that would be kind of creepy, and the better alternative might be the reality and coincidence that Entrapta was padding up to the door at that exact moment, moving in some weirdly fluid flow between skipping with her feet and getting a boost from her hair. Catra waited for a few moments, the blood rush getting to her head starting to bother her a bit as she heard Entrapta scribble something down on her pad, watching her hop from foot to foot, before the sharp and forceful twist of the doorknob turning hit her ears. She jumped back, limbs flying as she pushed her body away from the door milliseconds before it swung open, slamming the wall behind her so hard it shook the building a little bit. Well, that would’ve been one embarrassing way to die.

“- Oh, Catra! Good morning!” Entrapta greeted, giving her a tiny wave as she stared down at her. Catra scowled, ignoring her racing heartbeat as she stood back up. Part of her wanted to evoke some sort of fear in Entrapta, but god, when she looked at her she still only saw limp limbs splayed out, head hidden from view in the smoke – yep, whatever comfort she had gotten from her Adora-redo was officially ripped out of her. At least she hadn’t seen Entrapta’s eyes, right? That might’ve been a little harder to forget about, because even Adora’s fully alive eyes were enough to haunt her like a vengeful spirit. Not that it would last for long, of course; this was just shock. Catra believed that all of this would just blow over soon enough. She would make sure that bomb is defused and never gets used again, so she can avoid kicking the bucket and get on with her normal life.

“I’m your commander, uh, _princess,_ ” Catra sputtered as she stood up. “You should salute me.” She regretted the lack of bite in her words immediately. It was like she had just given her a compliment, or a gentle reminder, not reprimanded her for a terribly insulting mistake.

“Oh, really? Sorry,” Entrapta said. She then used her hair to act as a saluting hand above her brow and left it there as she kept talking. “Anyways, Catra, we have a little bit of a problem surrounding my latest experiment. Remember Eduwario?” Catra scowled, then nodded.

“Uh, duh, Entrapta. It’s our bomb.” Catra scoffed. She would have to be an idiot to not know that stupid death contraption at this point.

“Interesting…” Entrapta pulled out her notepad with her free twintail, scribbling something down.

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” Catra cried, but as expected, Entrapta didn’t answer. She was still writing as she replied to their original topic.

“So to put it simply, it’s been deactivated, kind of.”

“Can I just say that I’m so happy you decided to let me tag along,” Scorpia started, earning a groan from Catra. If she hadn’t known that Scorpia would probably just find her anyways (I mean seriously, how did she find her at the woods yesterday?) and she needed a second hand for their plan to work, she would never have brought this grinning lug of friendship and positivity. Catra twisted the skiff controller as she followed the route she had taken…three? Four? Days ago. She had refreshed her memory, of course, but it felt almost wrong to take the same route twice. Too…familiar. It was unsettling.

“It’s nothing personal. _Really_.” Catra sighed, but nonetheless happy to be pulled away from her own thoughts. Scorpia was equally as terrible, but at least her rambles couldn’t throw her into a never-ending spiral of dreadful thoughts and regrets.

“Oh, you’re too modest,” Scorpia sighed contently, flashing her a smile as she looked down at the infinitely important mini contraption wrapped around her pincer like a watch. It was grossly cute, the black, red, and white decals corresponding with Scorpia’s outfit – Catra really hadn’t pinned Entrapta as a fashion-conscious individual, but whatever. She described it as a transmitter of sorts; if she couldn’t tag along with Catra (which was ground into her brain the entire planning process) they had to have an “Entrapta replicator”. She said something about a “jean-etic signature”, which could somehow disengage the failsafe virtually from a pre-programmed decoder. “Painless”, Entrapta said with a smile, her words less helpful than intended. Catra forced herself to ignore the stinging of her body as she rounded into the stupid Whispering Woods.

They rode the rest of the way in one sided chat, Scorpia talking her ear off about any random thought that popped into her mind. “Did you know trees have feelings?” “Wow, it would suck to fall from this high.” “This mission is going to be so fun! I’m glad we’re here together! Kinda sad Entrapta isn’t here though.” “You ever think about snails? They’re so extravagant. If I could be an animal, I would be a snail.”

“Really? You wouldn’t be a scorpion?” Catra found herself butting in against her better judgement.

“Hahaha! Good one, Catra. I’m absolutely nothing like scorpions, where did you get that idea from?” Catra decided to drop the conversation.

She found herself driving the skiff a little slower as soon as they neared the clearing. There was some conflicting feeling in her chest, one that whispered quietly into her ear. _Don’t go there,_ it said. _You know what’ll happen, you’re just begging to die_. But she was already here, wasn’t she? She looked back at Scorpia, whose smile dropped a bit when their eyes met. She went from blissfully enjoying the smell of trees to looking confused - concerned even - and Catra knew it was because of her. Catra didn’t want the pity. Quickly, she tore her eyes away and brought the skiff back to speed.

“You sure this is where the bomb is?” Scorpia asked, her voice weirdly quiet.

“One hundred percent,” Catra responded, bringing the skiff lower to the ground as she saw the silhouette of that old shaky tree. She carefully parked the skiff behind the bushes surrounding the grotto, a few feet away from the clearing, and faced Scorpia. “Don’t move, I’m going to scout the area.”

“Okay Catra!” Scorpia replied, giving her a quick salute. Catra walked to the edge of the skiff, as if she was about to jump off, but stopped for a moment. Something had been bothering her this whole ride, other than the dull static resting beneath her skin, and she needed to ask in case something went wrong. Who was Catra kidding, something _always_ went wrong.

“Hey,” Catra began, keeping the tone in her voice as even and nonchalant as possible. “What happened…what did we do, yesterday?”

“Oh, yesterday? We all hung out! You and I oversaw some cadet training, we took Emily on a walk around the Fright Zone… ooh, ooh, and then we had an art competition while Entrapta worked on restoring some of our outdated mainframe data. You were so shy about your art! That actually brings up another thing, I feel like we should add a little more team building into our daily routines…”

Catra swallowed, very vaguely recalling the annoyance she had felt when Scorpia had seen her scratching a frowny face on the walls and then declared an “art competition”. It had gone horribly, to say the least, and she’s pretty sure Entrapta lit some sort of important something on fire in the process. The memories seemed so distant, as if they were shrouded in the thick mists of her mind. Had they really been her last memories? Before…this?

She nodded and stepped off the skiff base, silently stalking her way to the clearing. She hid behind a tree and listened, trying to pick out any voices among the sounds of the forest. Weirdly enough, there was nothing; she strained even more, but she heard not even a shuffle of grass coming from the clearing. Hesitantly, she walked through, staying as quiet as she could as she entered the clearing. She saw the bomb, lying there like an out of place rock, but not one Brightmoon Soldier in sight. She sighed, giving one last listen before walking across the clearing and around the general area. She stayed as silent as death the whole time, making sure there was really nobody there ready to jump her.

When she found nothing, she walked back into the clearing. “Scorpia, get over here!” she shouted. “And watch your step.”

“Coming Wildcat!” Scorpia called, and Catra winced at the squeak of the skiff and the ground-shaking landing of Scorpia’s raw muscle body against the dirt. Catra felt her tail flicking impatiently behind her as Scorpia took her sweet time plowing through the brush. Catra looked down at her feet, spotting a particularly weird looking bug scuttling through the grass.

“Freaky,” Catra muttered to herself, her eyes glued to its tiny grayish-blue shell as it disappeared into the dirt.

Scorpia appeared a moment later, looking around in awe at her surroundings. “Wow!! Pretty.” Catra scoffed, about to comment on how this place didn’t exactly deserve the compliment, before biting back the words. She didn’t exactly feel like explaining herself to Scorpia, clarifying just why she loathed a place she should technically have never been to.

“Alright, give me the watch,” Catra ordered, walking up to Scorpia. Now that she was getting a good look at it, the band was huge, wrapping around Scorpia’s entire claw tight. Luckily, instead of having to pry the thing off with brute strength, Entrapta had installed a little button on the bottom that, when pressed, makes the diffuser pop off with a nice little click. Catra grasped it with both hands and lifted it into her arms, holding it like a rattle snake as she turned to face the bomb. All she had to do was place this against the shell, and it should work its magic. That’s so simple, so easy! Catra took one half step with her foot in the general direction of the bomb, thinking of how easy this was going to be. She swallowed and took another. She could feel Scorpia’s gaze on her back as she slowly approached the bomb. Three steps. Four steps. Five. She halted dead in her tracks, blaming the stinging of her entire body and the uncomfortable twisting of her guts. She…didn’t want to do this. Catra’s heart was beating wildly in her chest, there was something so _wrong_ with that hunk of metal she couldn’t even move closer. It was just her and this bomb now, everything else was so far away. It stared into her, mocking her cowardice. Her foot lifted off the ground tentatively. It was just a bomb. Just a bomb, just a stupid bomb, she has no reason to be acting this way, Catra doesn’t let her weaknesses get the best of her. She has to be better than this, she…!  
“Hey, um…want me to do it?” Scorpia asked from far away. Suddenly she was back in the field, where there was grass in between her and that bomb, with dirt and weird bugs and trees and Scorpia. Catra wanted to hiss and push through this, prove herself wrong and complete the task herself. She wanted to tell Scorpia that she was fine by herself, and that she did not appreciate the offer. Of course, that would have required her to not sigh in relief, back up at hyper speed, and toss the diffuser into Scorpia’s pincers like it was on fire. She refused to meet Scorpia’s eyes, feigning annoyance as she let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. Catra instead focused her gaze on the bomb as Scorpia walked towards it far too quickly, without any caution or hesitation at all. Catra was frozen still, holding her breath, body still as a corpse she may or may not turn into within the coming seconds as Scorpia fumbled with the band. She held it between her two pincers and slowly lowered the circular mechanic part towards the bomb. Catra squinted, recoiled like she’d been hit, watching as Scorpia’s claws got lower, lower, lower, so close to the contraption of death. Would they come back this time? Would Catra really just wake up if she died like this? In a moment of pure fear, Catra opened her mouth, about to scream at her to back away, but then…!

They touched. A series of clicks and whirls hit Catra’s ears, and for a solid five seconds, Catra firmly believed they were going to die. She squeezed her eyes shut so hard her eyelids hurt, waiting for the end to come – again.

It doesn’t.

“Huh, that was quick,” Scorpia commented. Catra slowly opened one of her eyes as Scorpia pulled the watch away. To Catra’s horror, she even gave it a quick few taps with her toe, like she wanted to explode…but nothing happens. “Catra, it’s all good! See, nothing to be afraid of.” Catra slowly stumbles over to the bomb, giving it a good once over. It looked the same as it always had before it exploded and killed someone – but, at the same time, it didn’t. Slowly, carefully, Catra squatted down and gave it a poke with one of her nails. Her hand retracted like she had been stung, but…nothing. Nothing happened. She poked it again, and it didn’t go off. Suddenly, a big fat grin spread across her face, and she hopped up on her feet.

“It’s gone! Scorpia, it’s really gone!!” Catra laughed, kicking the thing square across the clearing. “I…wooowwww, I’ve never felt this good in my life,” She sighed, collapsing onto the ground and spreading her limbs out. The clumped, lumpy dirt and itchy grass felt _luxurious,_ because she could _still feel_ it. Her heart beat faster in her chest, a reminder that it was unharmed, alive and kicking. She actually began to _purr_ , for the first time since Adora left.

“The bomb’s gone! Yay! I guess,” Scorpia cheered, confusion written all over her face. She still smiled though, jogging over to retrieve the bomb Catra had just kicked into the brush. Catra grinned to herself for a solid minute before sitting back up, accessing her next course of action. Catra hadn’t had a watch when she soloed her trip here last loop, but her gut was telling her it had been around noon-ish when she found Adora and Company laying around here. She had thought this out during her and Entrapta’s brief strategy meeting; she was going to capture Adora and turn her into Lord Hordak as a war prisoner, and once she was out of commission, snag the other two. Last time they took that Brightmoon princess as hostage, Adora had led the charge to get them out. Surely, with the Princess Alliance’s leader gone, their little sparkle group won’t be able to work together. Not to mention she’s the only one with Horde knowledge, if they shipped the three off to Beast Island, nobody would ever be able to get them back…

“Scorpia,” Catra called. “Go get the rope. We’re waiting for some of the Brightmoon soldiers to show up.” And so, they would wait.

Catra never had problems when it came to waiting like this. She had mastered the art of biding time, casting aside the general need to do something else and just…exist, until what needed to happen happened. It was a survival skill, the only way that she could survive Shadow Weaver’s magic or her punishment, the hours of mind numbing solitary confinement. Patience came as second nature to Catra. Unsurprisingly, this wasn’t the same in regards to Scorpia.

“Isn’t this so refreshing?” Scorpia sighed dreamily. She was sitting crisscross applesauce next to Catra in the grass, gazing at the damp, smelly surroundings like they held some sort of spiritually enlightening significance.

“Sssh, be quiet! We’re still on the lookout for rebels.”

“Oh!” Scorpia yelled, causing at least 4 birds fly frantically out of a nearby tree. “Oooohh, right,” She said with the same volume, but more breathy and whisper-like this time. “Yep, silent stakeout. Got it.”

Catra glanced back down at the deactivator again. The watch-like contraption wasn’t originally going to be a watch, but after Catra’s suggestion to give it a clock function, Entrapta was more than willing to add it. She glanced down at the digital numbers for what seemed to be the umpteenth time; 12:23. Isn’t this when they should be arriving? Or, be already here? Catra’s tail swatted against the ground. What was taking Adora so long? Catra didn’t want to see her, in all honesty, but she would do what she had to do to get answers – and Hordak’s approval, of course.

“Scorpia,” Catra started. “I want you to stay here. Keep the rope at ready, I’m going to scout the camp nearest to here.” Scorpia looked at her for a second, like she wanted to say something to that. She didn’t understand that something was wrong here; in fact, the only thing she probably thought was off was Catra’s attitude. Thankfully, Scorpia didn’t ask questions and just nodded. Catra felt weirdly relieved by the trust she was giving her. She also felt like this was the first true decision she’s made for herself in days, because no more bomb, no more time loop! She stood up, brushing some grass off her pants before breaking into a sprint towards the foliage. She smelled the air briefly, picking up the stench of glitter, happiness, and everything pretty pink pastel, knowing she had to follow it. She knew how to run soundlessly over the forest so the rocks didn’t clatter and the dirt didn’t shift, jumping over little branches and being as silent-speedy as possible. God forbid a Brightmoon soldier stumbles upon her, she couldn’t ruin their element of surprise.

Catra slowed as she began to see the fort’s wall through the trees. The trees ended a hundred feet or so away from where the camp was built, which was extremely inconvenient if she wanted to scout for a specific person. Only the side walls were ever visible from the forest, she noticed as she tried to walk around for a better view. Remaining inside the shadows of the branches, she walked along the line until she could see the front entrance. Immediately, she could see pink sparkling hair – okay, so one of them is here. She was talking to…the boy, probably, since she could make out the crop top, but no sign of a third person. Where was she? Where did Adora go?

Catra waited. She watched them for what felt like forever, but they made no attempts to move, and Adora never showed her face. What was going on? Shouldn’t they be exploring the woods, or at least talking to their new best friend? This was beginning to be a huge waste of time. She turned right back around, slowly walking her way back into the woods where Scorpia was waiting. The walk wasn’t too long, but oddly felt like it took more time than walking to the fort. She felt a smile pull at her lips when she remembered that it didn’t matter if she found Adora or not; since this stupid loop was going to be over, she could always just spend the next day finding her. Or the next. She had time, and that’s what mattered. With a little more confidence in her step, Catra moved to the clearing, looking around for Scorpia. It took her an odd amount of time, but the force captain was standing next to a tree, and upon noticing Catra, shot her a huge smile.

“Oh, hey Catra! Hope you don’t mind, but Adora was just kinda walking by here, so I captured her and tied her to this tree,” Scorpia exclaimed.

“You huh?” Catra took a moment to absorb the situation as she looked slightly to the left, accidentally locking her gaze with the grey eyes that she had been imagining in the back of her mind all morning. Catra’s first instinct was to freeze, let her brain process what was going on. Adora – Adora was alive, for real! And she was right there! Catra gave her a quick once over; crazy, overly detailed boots? Check. Red jacket that she wears even in the dead of summer? Check. Extravagant poof that overexaggerates her forehead? Check.

“Catra,” Adora whispered to herself. As if beckoned, Catra took slow hesitant steps towards her, staring dead into her eyes and looking for any signs of what they looked like before. She searched for any trace, any crack in the haze, or observant gaze, but they seemed to just be foggy and clouded over like they always were when the loop resets. She took a few moments to just stare, and it only hit her a few more seconds in that Adora was staring back. Catra realized what she was doing – emotionally vulnerable eye contact!? - and felt a cold terror run up her body, the fear of exposing herself this much pulling her out of whatever spell she had been cast into. What was she thinking!? She couldn’t be weak in front of Adora or Scorpia, or- or anyone! She knew she had to cover this up, and tried to place something harder and more taunting in her gaze. Adora’s brows knit together - so she got the message.

“Hey Adora,” she purred, taking more deliberate steps towards her. Adora herself was tied against the tree, her hands tied behind her back and her torso strapped against the bark. For having two pincers, Scorpia did a really nice job with the knots. Adora wasn’t getting out of those any time soon. Scorpia must have gotten the sword from her and everything, since it wasn’t anywhere near Adora – Catra was impressed.

“What are you doing here?” Adora frowned, her nose crinkling up as she glared at her. “Are you trying to attack the fort? Bomb the town?” She sounded angry, but Catra knew her better than that; Adora wasn’t fueled by anger, she was weaker than that. Adora was trying to play the hero again, be brave in the face of the evil horde, and Catra wasn’t buying it. Even if she saw Adora die before, she had to remember that the loop was over, and they were still enemies. If Catra didn’t start treating her like one…well, that wouldn’t happen. _Adora left you_ , she told herself. _Adora is selfish and ignorant and stupid and she left you. It doesn’t matter that you feel some sort of way for saying that to her face, she doesn’t know! So stop thinking about it!_ she scolded herself mentally.

“Tsk tsk, as if I would waste time with such a low ploy, _prisoner_. You know me better than that, don’t you?” she cooed, getting close enough to reach up and brush a stray hair behind her ear.

“Catra…” Adora growled.

“Um, hey, guys-“ Scorpia obnoxiously cut in. Catra ignored her – this was between her and Adora.

“What? Are you upset that I’m taking you back to the Horde for the second time? Hordak is going to love having the Rebellion’s little golden child in his hands.”

“Yeah, uh, Catra, just a moment-“

“You’ll never take me! Bow and Glimmer have to know something’s up, they know where I am!”

“Oh yeah? Sparkles and Rainbow? Well-“

“CATRA THERE’S A GIANT BUG STORMING TOWARDS US AND I THINK WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!” Scorpia screamed, finally catching Catra and Adora’s attention. They both looked up, and before Catra had the chance to turn around, she saw Adora’s eyes turn into saucers. Fear striking her heart, she whipped around to see a ginormous greyish blue insect plowing through trees and into the clearing. Catra yelped and unsheathed her claws on instinct, the fur on the back of her neck bristling up as she watched it slow down. It glared down at the three of them with bright red, gleaming eyes as it advanced, and Scorpia started rushing towards it. Adora struggled in her ropes, squirming and writhing around to loosen it.

“Adora no!!!” Catra yelled. “You are NOT escaping!” With a few backwards glances at Scorpia singlehandedly holding off this house-sized monster, she grasped Adora’s shoulders and tried to calm her down.

“Are you kidding me!?” Adora yelled. “I can fight this thing! I’ve done it before! I just need to go get-“

“Scorpia’s got this! You’re the prisoner, we’re doing something with you I think!” Catra yelled back. She had no weapon on her besides a taser, which – looking at Scorpia’s unyielding attempts – didn’t work well on this thing. “Where’s your sword!?” Catra demanded more than asked, looking around briefly to try and catch the sparkle of its hilt. Adora didn’t say anything, moving as much as she could in the heat of the moment.

“Catra, I don’t think I got this! Would you mind helping me out a bit?” Scorpia called, nervousness lacing her voice as she barely dodged a leg trying to poke a hole through her.

“Oh you’ll be fine, I have to watch the pri-“ before she could call Adora the prisoner one more time, Scorpia almost lost her tail to the maws of the giant monster, but was knocked to the side and landed hard against the ground. Ugh, does Catra really have to do everything herself?

After trying to look for the sword one more time, Catra threw herself into the battle, not quite sure how she was going to take this thing down as she took it on. She dodged its mad thrashing and tried to made a dent in the exoskeleton with her claws, or at least do some damage to it, but they ran right across as if its skin was made of steel. Catra leaped back, quickly realizing why Scorpia had such a tough time with this thing, and decided to go with just dodging and hoping it slowed down. The longer she kept dancing around it, the more she realized that she was the one getting tired – what the hell was this thing eating!? Why did it suddenly appear and start attacking them, she’d never even heard of giant bugs in the Whispering Woods before!

“Scorpia, there’s no beating this! We have to grab Adora and go!” Catra shouted, too focused on staying alive to check and see if Scorpia heard, or was even still fighting with her. She actually hadn’t seen Scorpia since she jumped in, but- but she was probably just on the other side! Only Kyle could find a way to die from this thing! She was probably just getting paranoid, speaking that she did die twice already-

Catra didn’t notice that she was getting distracted until the thing’s tail came crashing towards her, and it was too late to jump or move out of the way. Catra was milliseconds from flying into the nearest tree and breaking at least 4 bones, but noticed last second that it was moving too slow to actually hurt her. She stared in confusion as it geared to a halt, finally registering that Adora – untied, because of _course_ she found a way to undo the ropes - was screaming at it from the other direction.

“Come over here and meet your match!” She yelled, holding a flimsy, mildly wet and mossy stick in her hand.

“Adora, what are you doing!?” Catra shrieked. “Where’s your sword!?”

“I left it at camp!” She cried back, trying to maintain an intimidating posture as she slowly backed away from the confused monster.

“YOU WHAT????” Why would she not have her sword!? When did she EVER not have her sword?! That stupid thing never left her side - knowing Adora, she probably slept with it under her pillow and fed it breakfast in the morning! Catra ran as far from the bug’s reach as she could to survey the situation. Scorpia was, in fact, alive, but she was running into the bushes where they parked the skiff – no doubt to try and boot it up. The bug, meanwhile, thrusted a leg at Adora and narrowly missed her skin, and instead had tore a hole right through her stupid jacket. It picked her up, much to Catra’s horror, and brought her towards its mouth. Was it trying to EAT Adora!? That- NO! No no no no, not again! Catra got a running start and leaped up, climbing as best she could up the monster’s body, using all her strength and ability to get up to its head. The monster paused for a moment as Adora pulled her arms out of her favorite article of clothing and landed relatively safely. Catra got to its head and held on for dear life as she used her right hand to claw through its eye. She felt her heart leap into her throat as it shook her every possible way imaginable, roaring and not even flinching at the pain it must be in. Catra jumped off and landed on her feet, her joints immediately lighting on fire at the pressure that just zoomed up her bones. She was, once again, reminded of the constant static resting under her skin. She had somehow landed in the general vicinity of Adora, who was clutching her shoulder with her nondominant hand. Adora looked up at her, their eyes meeting once again, and she was unable to shake the uneasy feeling of that haze that shouldn’t be lingering across her irises in the heat of battle. Adora must not have noticed, however, and ran to her side.

“We have no chance of beating this thing,” she huffed. “We have to get out of here!”

“I know that, Scorpia’s getting the skiff right now!” Catra yelled back, bearing her claws and watching as the creature recovered from its dizzy fit. They didn’t have much time, but they could make it- if Scorpia didn’t take so freaking long! Seriously, Catra knew the stick was a little difficult to grasp with a claw hand, but this hard!?

“I know this isn’t the time to say this,” Adora said, “but I’m happy to see you like…” she seemed to have trouble finding the word. “…this.”

Catra stopped dead in her tracks. “I…what? Adora, what on Etheria are you talking about?” Catra huffed, not really knowing where that came from. That was such an odd statement, she didn’-

Adora was stiff as a board. Frozen in place, eyes wide, staring straight ahead as if she could see everything. The haze that took over her eyes evaporated, sharpness and understanding returning to them. Catra’s jaw dropped.

Adora started to cry.

It wasn’t her regular cry, where only a few tears slipped out in the height of a stressful moment; Adora had a practical stream flowing down her cheeks, with a thousand different emotions flying across her face just about as quick as Catra’s thoughts were running through her head.

“A-Adora!?” Catra yelped, confused beyond belief. The monster, of course, had to rear its ugly head once more, looking at them with a hate. Um, shouldn’t they be running…? Adora was frozen still, tears streaming down her cheeks as her eyes squinted and her face scrunched up.

“Catra,” she whispered, voice cracking. “Catra, I remember. You – you hate me?”

Catra’s soul was practically ripped out of her body. She couldn’t hear the uprooting of the soil caused by the monstrous bug storming towards them. She couldn’t smell the scent of pine or wet leaves or village animals or what could only be described as Adora anymore. She could only look, shocked out of her own skin, at Adora, who just threw Catra’s entire world upside down. The bug lifted its body up and off the ground, its shadow casting over them and blocking the light, sending them crashing into darkness, sending them close to death, but the two just stared at each other. Blue and yellow and grey eyes, given up, staring numbly at each other with more emotion than should ever be able to be conveyed in a single stare. Scorpia would never make it in time. Catra and Adora were never going to move. This bug probably weighed enough to crush a goddamn castle under its weight, never mind two measly girls not even bothering to guard themselves. It wasn’t important. Adora knew. Adora _knew_. And now they were going to die.

What did it matter if they died?

“See you,” Catra called quietly as the animal crashed down on them. She closed her eyes before the impact hit. Maybe Catra felt it. Maybe she didn’t. It probably hurt.

Catra, of course, wasn’t there anymore. Her eyes had snapped open and she was facing a ceiling. She was probably wrapped up in her old blue blanket, and Scorpia was probably snoring, but Catra was sobbing so loudly she couldn’t hear it and hurting so badly everywhere she might as well have been surrounded by nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! The end of the setup period is in sight, and from here on out, we'll see a lot more of Adora and Catra actually interacting! Like, genuinely! And not just in the coming moments before they die! :') I promise you this is Catradora, Catra just has to calm down for a minute and let herself not violently """hate""" Adora before they can h*ld h*ands and all those other scandalous homosexual activities. I can't guarantee I'm actually going to release on a constant schedule, but before I dropped off the face of the earth December 2018, I actually wrote really detailed skeletons for the next 3-6 chapters? So fingers crossed I might not go on another half-year hiatus.  
> Anyways, thank you sooooo much for reading, I hope you have a great day!


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